Foraging season is finally here in the Midwest, and I've noticed a few bagel shops offering ramp cream cheese during the season. While it's technically a very easy recipe, ramps can be overly strong by themselves so there's a few things to consider when making your own. Today I'll show you how to make a great version at home, perfect for bagels, sandwiches, cheese plates, and plenty of other things. It also works with scallions and green garlic.
Some of you know I moved back to St. Paul a few years ago. The first thing I planted was a few hundred ramps (whole colonies, with roots and their native dirt) in my boulevard and yard.
While this recipe is pretty simple compared to other things on this site, it's the first ramp recipe I've made with ramps I've grown! If you want to do the same, I recommend buying dirty ramps from a local farm and planting 10-20 pounds. Leave a comment if you're in the area and I can share recommendations.
While you could technically just blend ramp leaves with cream cheese in a food processor, you'll get a more interesting product if you think about layering flavors. Part of the joy of ramps is the fresh, garlicky flavor, but all by themselves, ramp leaves blended raw with cream cheese can be overly garlicky, without much else going on.
My ramp cream cheese recipe uses fresh and cooked ramps similar to many other ramp dishes on this site like ramp butter, sausage and dip. Blending cooked and raw ramps lets you tweak the flavor easily to your taste, giving a blend of texture and the ephemeral wild leek flavor we all crave in the spring. Fresh lemon, herbs, and a touch of chili are the perfect finishing touch.
How to Make it
For 8 oz of cream cheese you'll want about 4-6 oz of ramp leaves. Wash and dry the leaves, then slice roughly. Remove a small handful to puree with the cream cheese, scraping down the bowl to ensure it's evenly blended.
The majority of the ramp leaves are cooked quickly in a tablespoon of butter or olive oil and quickly chilled. Cooking brings out the sweetness of the leaves. Folded into the cream cheese, they add a contrast to the bracing, garlicky flavor of the raw ones.
Finally, add fresh lemon zest and juice, salt, pepper, a pinch of crushed red pepper or hot sauce, and fresh herbs like dill or mint until it tastes good to you. It'll keep a decent color in the fridge for a week.
Additions and Variations
Here's a few notes on ways I'll vary the flavor here.
- Just like scallion cream cheese, it's perfect with cold smoked salmon and other fish.
- Try it spread on a cold ham sandwich or as part of a charcuterie platter.
- Substituting cooked, finely chopped nettles for the cooked ramp leaves makes a nice dip or spread.
- I use fresh mint in the video, but dill is definitely my favorite herb to add.
- I used to serve 3 different spreads with a selection of buttered, grilled homemade bread as an appetizer. I did one at home with roasted carrot cumin spread, ramp cream cheese, and ramp pesto this week.
- Goat cheese, or a mix of goat and cream cheese is another good riff.
- Try a dollop folded into an omelet or a nettle crepe as a filling.
Related Posts
Homemade Ramp Cream Cheese
Equipment
- 1 quart mixing bowl
- Spatula
- 8 inch saute pan or cast iron pan
Ingredients
- 4 oz feesh ramp leaves separated
- 8 oz cream cheese full fat
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt to taste
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- zest of half a medium lemon or meyer lemon
- fresh ground black pepper to taste
- A few dashes of hot sauce or crushed red pepper flakes optional, to taste
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill sliced basil, or mint, to taste
Instructions
- Slice all the ramp leaves into roughly 1 inch slices. Separate 1 oz of the ramps (a small handful) and puree with the cream cheese in a food processor until the cheese is bright greens and smooth. Roughly chop the rest of the ramp leaves and reserve.
- Heat the butter in a small saute pan and add the chopped ramp leaves. Wilt the leaves, stirring occasionally and seasoning with a pinch of salt and pepper, until fully cooked, about 2-3 minutes on medium heat. Transfer the leaves to the mixing bowl and cool, or chill the pan over a bowl of ice.
- Mix the ramp cream cheese with the cooked ramp leaves, add the remaining ingredients and mix to combine. Taste the mixture and double check the seasoning for salt, pepper, herbs and lemon. Adjust the seasoning until it tastes good to you. Store the cream cheese in the refrigerator in a container with a tight fitting lid.
Steve Brill
I have yet to try ramp oil but hope to soon. I have made ramp pesto using the leaves and bulbs, and it's pretty strong stuff, it is really good and can easily be modified. Regarding planting ramps. While I grew up in St. Paul's Crocus Hill area, I now live in Cottage Grove in a suburban neighborhood. Not very conducive a setting for ramps. However, I'd like to give it a try. You mentioned buying dirty ramps from a local farm. While I have seen bunches of fresh ramps at Missippippi Market Coop, their roots are usually trimmed off so I don't know if these would work. So I would appreciate if you could tell me about a farm where I could purchase said dirty ramps. Thanks for your assistance. P.S. I love the idea of adding fresh dill and/or fresh mint. Fennel fronds might work as well.
Alan Bergo
Hi Steve. If you call the coop, tell them you want to order a case of DIRTY ramps, both farms I know that sell them in the area (Dragsmith and Hidden Stream) offer both options and always have the roots attached. You can also reach out to the farms directly and ask nicely-good excuse for a day trip. Tell them you'll pay cash up front and it should be fine.
Carla Beaudet
25 years ago when we bought our land, the very first thing I planted there - before we had a driveway, a well, or any buildings - was ramps. I could see how overpicked any public land that was easily accessible was getting to be. They survived, but I didn't really get after embiggening the patch until we built and moved to the property. I've got about 1/4 ac. planted in ramps now - enough that I can harvest whatever I need, and I still help distribute the seeds each time they flower. This year, I made ramp butter - but not the way you had - I wanted that bright green - but I used too high a proportion of leaves, and it became bitter, so a whole pound of butter later, it was edible again -LOL! Using less leaves is certainly a good idea, but really, cooking to get the caramelized onion sweetness - that's the ticket! Brilliant suggestion. Now I have to pick a few more ramps before the season is over...
Alan Bergo
Thanks Carla. Yeah, too many raw ramps gets too strong. First thing I ruined was ramp burgers, grinding them raw with the meat for a backyard cookout. They were nearly inedible. My friends (and their wives) were wary of them for a few years after that.